Thursday, May 28, 2009

It's time for Postcard Friendship Friday, so let's hop on an Air France plane and go visit Marie at Cpaphilblog. This lovely Carte Postale is a 1956 poster-style advertising postcard from Air France, "Le plus grand réseau aérien du Monde" or "The world's largest Airline." It is signed by artist E. Lancaster and pictures some of the most famous Paris landmarks. In the center is the giant Obelisk of Luxor, a gift from Egypt in the 1830s, that once marked the entrance to the Luxor Temple in Egypt. The other landmarks are (clockwise from top left) Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Sacré-Cœur, Notre Dame, and Winged Horse.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

This vintage cowboy design pillow cover is a souvenir of Thermopolis, Wyoming.

Thermopolis has a population of only about 3000 people but is an important tourist area with such attractions as the Hot Springs State Park, Wyoming Dinosaur Center, Wind River Canyon, and Boysen Reservoir. The"World`s Largest Mineral Hot Spring" is located in the Hot Springs State Park.

Officially Wyoming is the "Equality State;" unofficially Wyoming is known as the "Cowboy State." A cowboy on a bucking horse is used as a state symbol, the University of Wyoming athletic teams' logo, and appears on the Wyoming license plate and quarter coins. Other cowboy images appear on many souvenirs, including postcards. This vintage linen cowboy postcard was made by Curt Teich in 1939.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Here's a fish card from The Queen Elizabeth Hotel of Montreal. It illustrates one of the "Specialty dishes from the Beaver Club Menu as seen by Montreal artist Jeff," Smoked Salmon. This particular salmon is smoking as is the gentleman seated next to him.

At the time this card was printed, Queen Elizabeth Hotel was a C. N. R. hotel operated by Hilton Hotels International. The hotel was built in 1958 by the Canadian National Railway. It is now owned by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. The Beaver Club was founded in 1785 by French Canadians and Scots.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

These ceramic cat bookends were made in Japan by Lefton's. Lefton's also made other variations of this white cat without the books. The Lefton's label and number shown here are from the right-side cat. The left-side cat had number 516.

The "twins" cats on this postcard look almost like bookends! This postcard was published by the Rotograph Co. It was mailed in 1906 before messages were allowed on the back of postcards. There is a faint message written on the front below the cats. It starts with "Did you get postal" and has something about a "letter."

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

I bought this postcard of a 1956 Chevrolet Station Wagon because it looks just like the one my father had. This one is a "Two-Ten" Beauville. My father's car was a six-passenger model that had the same color combination as the one on this card. The official name of the colors are Crocus Yellow and Laurel Green. This color combination was nicknamed "Mustard and Custard."Notice what looks like a vintage soap box derby car and a Speed Graphic camera in the foreground.In researching this card, I found a website devoted to the 1956 Classic Chevrolet that is full of information and even has a collection of 1956 Chevrolet dealer postcards. According to that website "With classic Chevrolet collectors focusing their attention principally on the 55 and 57 models, the 1956 Chevrolet is often overlooked. It shouldn't be! "

Two postcards with trucks and system maps of Brady Motorfrate, Inc. are shown here. These cards were used in 1968 and 1969. As can be seen on the scan of one of the postcard backs, the cards were used to notify a shipper when a shipment was delivered.

Brady Motorfrate is no longer in business. The following is some information I pieced together from a couple of internet sites. Brady Motorfrate was acquired by Smith's Transfer Corp. of Staunton, Virginia. In 1987 Smith's was purchased by American Freight System which ceased operations in 1988.

These three postcards are part of a series from the Ford exhibit at the 1934 Century of Progress (Chicago World's Fair). The text below these images is from the backs of the postcards.

FORD EXPOSITION BUILDING

A drawing by Hugh Ferriss, noted New York artist, of the Ford Exposition Building at the 1934 A Century of Progress at Chicago as it appears at night in its blaze of flood lights. The building is 900 feet long and equivalent to 10 stories in height in its central section. It occupies a tract of eleven acres fronting on Lake Michigan with beautiful Ford Gardens in its foreground.

THE FORD DRAMA OF TRANSPORTATION — CARRIAGES

The evolution of horse-drawn transportation from the primitive chariot to the luxurious vehicles of the latter part of the 19th century is illustrated at the Ford Exposition by 24 types. This is only a part of Henry Ford's collection at Dearborn, Michigan, where he has over 500 carriages, wagons, sleighs and almost every type of vehicle in which the horse was the motive power.

THE FORD DRAMA OF TRANSPORTATION — CARS

Forty-one automobiles, ranging from the charcoal burning Austin steamer of the early sixties to the 1934 Ford V-8 are shown at the Ford Exposition. It is interesting to note that Henry Ford was among the first to get away from the "Horseless carriage" idea and design a car in which previous forms of transportation carried no influence. There was nothing reminiscent of the buggy or carriage in the first Ford, except the wheels.

I have a website on A Century of Progress Exposition that has much more information and more postcards from this world's fair that was held in Chicago in 1933 and 1934.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Unemployment has been in the news a lot lately. I couldn't resist writing the title "Pills Cure Unemployment." I imagined it appearing as a headline in a tabloid paper.

This postcard was printed in U. S. A. by Bamforth. Bamforth was a British postcard publisher that had a U. S. branch in New York. I think the humor on this postcard represents the British style more than the American. British humor seems to border on the tasteless more than American postcard humor does (or maybe British taste is just different than American). Bamforth produced many comic postcards and is best known for saucy seaside postcards.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

This is a kind of tongue-in-cheek follow-up to the Race Suicide and Motherhood post I did last Sunday. The verse is from an old English nursery rhyme:

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.She had so many children, she didn't know what to do;She gave them some broth without any bread;Then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.

I thought this was very amusing when I was young, but now it sounds like child abuse.

This postcard is from Story Book Island in South Dakota and was mailed in 1961. This year Story Book Island is celebrating its 50th Anniversary. This is the description from the back of the postcard:

THE OLD WOMAN'S SHOESTORY BOOK ISLANDRapid City, Black Hills,S. D.

A feature of the Rapid City Parks Department, Story Book Island is sponsored by the Rapid City Rotary Club. Located in beautiful Sioux Park in the center of the city, this park is the dream of every child come true. It is a fantasy of design, color, animation and music to delight the child and adult alike.

I am showing the back of the card too bcause I think the childish handwriting is so cute. Obviously there was some help from an older person too.

When I bought my "Peace 1918" brass trivet, I was told that it came from England. I thought about starting a collection of trivets and even bought a book on trivets. However, I couldn't find other trivets that I thought were equally interesting, and I found it was difficult to tell the old trivets from reproductions. I do have a postcard of a trivet collection, though (I'll show it at the end of this post)!

November 11, 1918 was the symbolic end of World War I, when an Armistice treaty was signed between Germany and the Allies. I have several postcards of the Victory (Peace) Day celebrations in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The first postcard is a printed card from the L. S. Donaldson company. Donaldson's was an old Minneapolis department store. The description on the front of the card is as follows:

"This photograph, showing Victory Day illuminations, was taken at 2:30 a. m. , Monday, November 11, 1918, just 30 minutes after the news was received in Minneapolis of the signing of the Armistice by Germany."

Two other postcards I have are real photo postcards showing views of the same location during the day. Donaldson's is the lighter building on the left that has flags of the Allies hanging below the third floor. I find these cards more interesting for the descriptions written on the back than the quality of the photos.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

I am showing two of the many Ford Comics postcards issued around 1915. The ones that I have with dates are from 1915 and 1916. There were several series and at least two artists and two publishers produced these cards. There is nothing on the card about the Ford Motor Company, but the Metropolitan Post Card Club website lists Ford as the publisher of the "Ford Booster" comics.

I chose these two postcards to show here because I thought the messages on the back were interesting.

Dear Folks:Am feeling pretty good tonite. Am studying then shall go down town to get election returns.How is everything? Would like to come home this week. Ed expects to go home too. Will phone if anything turns up.

The second postcard is not signed by the artist, but it is similar to ones that are signed by Witt. On the back is printed "No. 2153, 10 des. FORD COMICS." It is a message from Carl written in July from Watertown, South Dakota:

Dear Friend.A line to let you know that I am feeling fairly well and have a good job up here. I can see a good ball game every day if I want to. Got a dividend check from Oklahoma today. tell you about it later and see you when I get back to Mankato.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Race suicide is defined as "The voluntary failure of the members of a race or people to have a number of children sufficient to keep the birth rate equal to the death rate."

In the early 1900s there was a declining birthrate in the United States. Theodore Roosevelt was obsessed with the concept of race suicide. He was worried that the better class of old-stock Americans would be outnumbered by what he considered inferior races.

In 1905 Roosevelt gave a speech On American Motherhood to the National Congress of Mothers in Washington. Roosevelt spoke of race suicide and a woman's duty to bear enough children to prevent it. He glorified motherhood and was contemptuous of those who deliberately failed to fulfill their duty.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Here are a couple more postcards to celebrate National Postcard Week. What could be better than postcards about collecting postcards? And the rubber duckies are pretty cool too!Even if you don't know Italian, you can probably figure out what these postcards are about. Here are some rough translations from an online translation website (WorldLingo.com) and what I think they are saying:

le cartoline sono tra gli oggetti più collezionati in italiathe postcards are between the collezionati objects more in Italy[postcards are among the more collected objects in Italy??]sono 500.000 i collezionisti di cartoline in italiathey are the 500,000 collectors of postcards in Italy[There are 500,000 collectors of postcards in Italy??]

il mercato online dove vendere e comprare di tuttothe market online where to sell and to buy of all

NOTE: You don't have to post today. The deadline is really at the end of the month so there is plenty of time to post. You also can put the permalink to an older post on the theme into Mister Linky.

The theme for this month is FISH. Here are some from my postcard collection to inspire you.

The Fisherman's Prayer

Lord, give me grace to catch a fishSo large that even I,In talking of it afterwards,May never need to lieAgain!

A Pair of Beauties in the Sunshine City, St. Petersburg, Florida

Tarpon are one of the big fish of Florida. They are usually caught and released. I like the classic attire on this woman, the camera slung over her shoulder, and the fact that she is not a scantily clad pin-up. It looks like the publisher was trying to appeal to both sexes with this postcard.

Interior of a Salmon Cannery. Daily Capacity 60 Tons.

No additional description on the back. Published by C. P. Johnston Co., Seattle, Washington.

"Fishing is always good at Lake Corpus Christi State Park, Mathis, Texas. Catfish, Bass, and Crappie are only a few of the many species that make this lake so popular."

This is an exaggeration postcard by Nyce Manufacturing Co.

Walleye Pike

"This fresh water fish is the most eagerly sought of all game fish species. Well distributed throughout all Lake States and Canada."

The 2009 Minnesota fishing opener is this weekend, May 9. I've never been on a fishing trip, but I like all the funny and exaggerated fish postcards. If you are interested in fishing or like videos, be sure to watch the Minnesota fishing video. It's actually quite humorous.

Mr. Linky widget has been removed at Mr. Linky's request. Here is a list of the participants in the Fsh Postcard Scavenger Hunt: